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• If on the lam you go to Mexico - never Canada

  • Jeff Boston
  • 5/18/13

  Bad casting with wooden pretty boy Granger playing a man (too) fresh after 7 years in a cage and Natalie Woodish pretty girl O'Donnell playing a girl too refreshing after 17 years "caged" by a hopeless existence with her lowlife, alcoholic pop. Both performances are wholly unconvincing. One thing of which I am convinced: forget "Bonnie and Clyde", this flick inspired "Gun Crazy", released in 1950. Both movies bombed back when Americans weren't as jaded and degraded. Now they're both celebrated, especially by the Hollyweird elite.

• ANOTHER GREAT ONE I MISSED!

  • TCM Fan
  • 4/29/13

  Really enjoyable Nicholas Ray film - found it authentic & convincing - which is always so appreciated. Farley Granger & Cathy O'Donnell are the driving force in this "dark" plight against pretty impossible odds as two young "rather blind" lovers on the run. Can't wait for Side Street now - also with same two great actors in prime of their career.

• a must see movie

  • DevlinCarnate
  • 4/28/13

  a precursor to "Bonnie and Clyde" with the doomed lovers theme,but the protagonists are even more sympathetic..later remade by Altman as "Thieves Like Us" which i've never seen,but would like to for comparison..directed by Nicholas Ray, it has a great helicopter tracking shot of fleeing bank robbers often copied,but never duplicated...do yourself a favor and watch this,you won't be disappointed...it's classified as a "Noir" but it stretches a little beyond the genre boundaries

• Film Noir or Gritty Romance? Take your pick!

  • JuliDC
  • 10/5/11

  I've been a fan of Farley Granger since I first saw him in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train", and just as in that film, you'll find yourself rooting for him to get himself out of the horrible circumstances he's fallen into just by hanging out with the wrong guy or guys in this case. You think things might start to go his way once sweet Cathy O'Donnell takes an interest in him. There's something so wholesome about here, just like her very natural performance as Wilma in "The Best Years of Our Lives". She and Farley have great chemistry, and I know crime doesn't pay, but come on, can't these kids just get a break? ;) Had to give it 4 out of 5 stars, only because it doesn't end the way I want it to, but it's by far my favorite film by Director Nicholas Ray. Oh and the singer in the nightclub scene that another reviewer was wondering about is played by Marie Bryant, and she is listed in the end credits of the film, as well as here on TCM, and IMDb.

• Film Noir or Gritty Romance? Take your pick!

  • JuliDC
  • 10/5/11

  I've been a fan of Farley Granger since I first saw him in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train", and just as in that film, you'll find yourself rooting for him to get himself out of the horrible circumstances he's fallen into just by hanging out with the wrong guy or guys in this case. You think things might start to go his way once sweet Cathy O'Donnell takes an interest in him. There's something so wholesome about here, just like her very natural performance as Wilma in "The Best Years of Our Lives". She and Farley have great chemistry, and I know crime doesn't pay, but come on, can't these kids just get a break? ;) Oh and the singer in the nightclub scene that another reviewer was wondering about is played by Marie Bryant, and she is listed in the end credits of the film, as well as here on TCM, and IMDb.

• Praise for They Live By Night; also omissions from

  • Victor
  • 10/4/11

  They Live By Night is superb, for several reasons. In addition to the acting (by Granger and Da Silva, particularly) the film added a new perspective to the gangster movie genre. In my opinion the film is an icon of the period in question. It is one of the first, if not the first film to include in the screenplay a contemporary African-American singer, singing a contemporary R & B song. However, the female singer was uncredited. Everytime I view the film I wonder who she was and what records she may have recorded. This was a terrible omission by the producer.

• Haunting and moving

  • rosebette
  • 4/24/10

  The first time this was on, I had never heard of it, and got interrupted by an important phone call. I was so annoyed that I didn't see the whole film that I watched for it again on TCM. What a sad and compelling movie of a young man who is caught in the wheels of a life of crime. Granger and O'Donnell are outstanding as the young lovers.

• ITS A TWISTED ROAD!

  • CANDACE
  • 7/13/06

  A story where two people would share one life. A life in which love, hope, and fear would haunt their minds. A life they would live by night. Cathy O'donnell and Farley Granger are a star team.

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